How old are you?

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Mark Wainwright

Mark Wainwright

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Heavens to Mergatroyd!

The other day a not-so-elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her and said, "What the heck is a Jalopy?" He had never heard of the word jalopy! She knew she was old ...But not that old.

Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory when you read this and chuckle.

About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology.

These phrases included: Don't touch that dial; Carbon copy; You sound like a broken record; and Hung out to dry.

Back in the olden days, we had a lot of moxie . We'd put on our best bib and tucker, to straighten up and fly right.

Heavens to Betsy!

Gee whillikers!

Jumping Jehoshaphat!

Holy Moley!

We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley ; and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop, or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!

Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when was the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys, and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and pedal pushers.

Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.

We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" Or, "This is a fine kettle of fish!"

We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.

Poof, go the words of our youth. Where have all those great phrases gone?

Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee-high to a grasshopper.
 
I like it .It made me think of some Mind Your P's and Q's which I said later in Life I was told came from The Old Country and when You got tipsy The bar tender would say mind Your P's and Q's Beer In Pints or a Quart or For Pete's sake Go jump into a Lake Any I thank You for the Memory's and May You and Yours have a Prospers New Year
 
FEATHERDUSTER76 said:
I like it .It made me think of some Mind Your P's and Q's which I said later in Life I was told came from The Old Country and when You got tipsy The bar tender would say mind Your P's and Q's Beer In Pints or a Quart or For Pete's sake Go jump into a Lake Any I thank You for the Memory's and May You and Yours have a Prospers New Year
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And the same to you and yours
 
FEATHERDUSTER76 said:
I like it .It made me think of some Mind Your P's and Q's which I said later in Life I was told came from The Old Country and when You got tipsy The bar tender would say mind Your P's and Q's Beer In Pints or a Quart or For Pete's sake Go jump into a Lake Any I thank You for the Memory's and May You and Yours have a Prospers New Year
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And I had heard this was phrase came from typesetters, as they had to lay-out everything in mirror image/reverse in order for a page to be printed correctly. Plus, after taking down the type, they had to make sure the "p's" and "q's" were put back into the correct letter box/bin so that they could be readily found for the next printing.
 
Comeuppance

Spunk

lollygagging

To the OP, my favorite was "moxie"
 
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How about "deuce and a quarter" for a Buick Electra 225? Twenty years ago, girls at work had never heard of either the car or the nickname.

About the same time, talking to a big NASCAR fan who was in his mid-forties. Richard Petty's name came up and I said something about him driving Plymouths. His jaw dropped. "He drove Plymouths?" he said in amazement.

Five years ago, was riding with two younger guys I was working with on a project. One was in his early forties, the other early thirties. I mentioned Mae West. Who? Neither one had ever heard of her.

Then there's my son-in-law who thought Dark Side of the Moon was Pink Floyd's first album. Dadgum!

Moxie - for some reason Barney Fife's rant about "pioneer moxie" has always stuck in my mind.
 
How about when when You got in trouble and DAD was still at work and MOM would say :Just You wait until Your Father get's Home
 
FEATHERDUSTER76 said:
How about when when You got in trouble and DAD was still at work and MOM would say :Just You wait until Your Father get's Home
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and once he did get home, id get my but whooped till the fire alarm went off
 
We took some friends out for dinner a while back. there were 7 of us total. I pulled the server off to the side and tole her that it was a special occasion and I'd really appreciate it if she could be "Johnny on the Spot" when taking care of our table. I TRIED to explain the phase to her, but I wound up just saying, "If you could take extra good care of us tonight, your tip will reflect that" I probably should have known better.
 
harrisonm said:
We took some friends out for dinner a while back. there were 7 of us total. I pulled the server off to the side and tole her that it was a special occasion and I'd really appreciate it if she could be "Johnny on the Spot" when taking care of our table. I TRIED to explain the phase to her, but I wound up just saying, "If you could take extra good care of us tonight, your tip will reflect that" I probably should have known better.
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Speaking of servers, one of my favorite past times is tipping on the card, ill take the bill up to the counter (let's say it's $32.68) and they will ask ik I want to leave a tip on the card

So I say, sure, make it an even $40.00
They will stare at me for 30 seconds
Then stare at the register for another 90, and finally say, soooo $8.42 in tip ?


Nah, try again chuckles
 
Before I retired, I was working in a middle school and they had classes to teach the kids to read an analog clock. They were also teaching them how to do simple math such as add, subtract, multiply and divide using paper and pencil. Our educational system has gone down the porcelain facility and these kids parents are no help.
 
I have a young nephew who got a job as a grocery store cashier, and he said that one of the things they had to teach him, once he was hired, was how to make change...without using a computer. Apparently no one had shown him to count "up" before, and he said it was "like magic".

(sigh)
 
ProjectBazza said:
I have a young nephew who got a job as a grocery store cashier, and he said that one of the things they had to teach him, once he was hired, was how to make change...without using a computer. Apparently no one had shown him to count "up" before, and he said it was "like magic".

(sigh)
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That’s just sad. I mean these simple skills are not required in everyday life anymore or what. Same as writing in cursive quicker easier and can’t be deleted without fire. How can you get into college or university without them sad really sad
 
Ahoey said:
That’s just sad. I mean these simple skills are not required in everyday life anymore or what. Same as writing in cursive quicker easier and can’t be deleted without fire. How can you get into college or university without them sad really sad
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my own kids go to a private school where they use the "charlotte mason" approach

very little electronics involved, and writing is taught in cursive

as my kids grow, they pass through the sunday school class i teach at church, and in that class i have a handful of tasks the kids rotate through in a weekly basis, one of those tasks is writing down the prayer requests on the board

ive noticed each time one of my own kids does that the others all look at em like they are doing a magic trick, and none of them can read it
 
When I was much younger, I worked as a cashier in a grocery store. All the items were marked with the price. 3/$1.00, 9/$1.00, etc. Customer would purchase 1 each of many items,, and we would have to do the math in our heads while carrying on a conversation with the customer. Then had to give the correct change from the amount tendered.
Can you imagine young people doing that, today?

Another time I went to "adult" night school, to become a tool and die maker. Two years of night school to learn "theory" and "on the job" training during the day About 15 students (all adults). First night instructor gave a test to get an idea of what each person knew. Being in a tool and die class you used geometry and trig. Half the students could barely add and subtract, much less multiply and divide. Instructor had to waste about 3 weeks teaching basic arithmetic.
 
Had to look up what Cursive meant. When I went to school, we learned to write in "long hand" (cursive) and "printing" (block letters).
 
The other day we were going through some of my mother in laws stuff and she still had a rotary telephone. You should have seen my daughter, niece and nephew( all in their early 20's) try and figure out how to use it
 
diymirage said:
Speaking of servers, one of my favorite past times is tipping on the card, ill take the bill up to the counter (let's say it's $32.68) and they will ask ik I want to leave a tip on the card

So I say, sure, make it an even $40.00
They will stare at me for 30 seconds
Then stare at the register for another 90, and finally say, soooo $8.42 in tip ?


Nah, try again chuckles
Click to expand...

Man, I learned how to count change back PDQ as a paperboy. I got 90 other mouth-breathing cheapskates to collect from!
 
I got in to a heated discussion the other day when the "cashier" rang up my $5.25 order. I handed her a $10 bill and grabbed a quarter and handed it to her. I got this puzzled stupid look and she tries to hand me $4.75 change? I looked at her and said "Honey I want a $5 back NOT 4 singles and 3 quarters" She replies back " My Manager won't let me make changes after the register rings the order up" I am SERIOUSLY about ready to lose it for the simple stupidity being displayed (I AM THAT GRUMPY OLD GUY LOL) I was firm but not nasty about it and she finally handed me a $5 bill. I Thanked her and left shaking my head. Simple math skills should be taught in school TO EVERYONE or you can't graduate. THE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA IS WORKING!!!
 
Question: If you don’t have the knowledge to be able to count change back how do you have any money at all? What you just trust that the teller is correct. Bought a parka once it was $47 gave the teller a $50 bill. She put it in the till and gave me change for $100. I said that’s to much change. She wheeled around and BARKED at me you trying to tell me how to do my job. Blink blink I said no took the parka the receipt and $53 and went home. Liked to have seen her face at cash out lol
 
diymirage said:
Speaking of servers, one of my favorite past times is tipping on the card, ill take the bill up to the counter (let's say it's $32.68) and they will ask ik I want to leave a tip on the card

So I say, sure, make it an even $40.00
They will stare at me for 30 seconds
Then stare at the register for another 90, and finally say, soooo $8.42 in tip ?


Nah, try again chuckles
Click to expand...
At least they got the 2 cents part right. Do you really want to have some fun? Some time when you are at a place like McDonalds (or any other place where you have a young cashier) wait for them to say, for instance, that will be $17.63. Then give them a $20 bill. After they have rung in $20 amount tendered, say, "Wait. Here is 13 cents." They will self implode.
 
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